Secret Ballot Watch

As Members of Congress return to their congressional districts for Independence Day, workers all across the country may be breathing a sigh of relief. After all, it’s nearly July and still, the card check scheme remains mired in controversy. For workers who value their privacy, there’s relief in the appearance that card check isn’t going to become law anytime soon.

At least, that’s what many workers and business owners may have thought—until they read Somerset County Pennsylvania’s Daily American, which reported a different story late last week:  

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“A bill that has drawn the acclaim of union organizers and the ire of business owners may be decided on within weeks.

“The Employee Free Choice Act, also known as card check, needs 60 votes in the U.S. Senate to move forward. And according to AFL-CIO spokesman Marty Marks, this could come any day.

“‘Everything has kind of been waiting on Al Franken being seated in Minnesota,’ Marks said during a visit to Somerset. ‘Once that happens things are going to move pretty quickly.’”

Siwy, “Union rep: card check vote imminent,” Daily American, 06.26.09 

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If card check is indeed on the verge of becoming law, workers have plenty to be concerned about. Writing for an editorial debate last week on the pages of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, labor attorney Mac Irvin explained why card check should never become the law of the land:  

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“Campaigns to obtain signatures on union cards are rife with coercion and intimidation against employees who refuse to sign. This can be as simple as ostracizing a fellow worker or as menacing as a keyed automobile or damaged tire.

“The secrecy of the voting booth assures true free choice. Privacy is so fundamentally a requirement that the government will void any ballot where the voter has signed a name or written anything that might reveal an identity. Official posters assure voters: No one can determine how you have voted.

“Proponents of this law contend that the deck is stacked against unions and membership is in decline because unions cannot overcome management opposition during elections.

“This is a sham argument. For more than 10 years unions have won a majority of elections conducted, including 67 percent last year.”

Irvin, “Power grab is no excuse to undermine basic tenet of democracy,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 06.23.09 

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So much for a summer break from the card check controversy. Backers of the contentious plan seem as intent as ever to see it become law, even if it means workers lose their right to privacy in workplace organizing elections and their right to vote on workplace contracts.

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